The city of Cortez, Colorado

On Christmas day, 1886, Mat Hammond arrived with his wagon heavily loaded with lumber that would be used to construct the first buildings for the city of Cortez.  Un-like cities that where populated and developed because of its natural resources like a river or transportation, Cortez was built to house men that would build irrigation ditches, tunnels and laterals to divert the water from the Dolores River into the Montezuma valley.  This fueled speculation that the sandy red soil in the Montezuma Valley would produce a wide variety of crops.  It appears to have been a very successful undertaking as an unprecedented number of organic farms in the area support the surrounding communities with fresh locally grow foods.  Josie and I ventured out of Durango to check out this quaint little city more closely and weren’t disappointed.  Our first stop was the newly built, beautiful architecturally designed Colorado Tourist Information Center filled with a plethora of information about this epic state.   It was an honor and pleasure having met one of the local tourist center volunteers, a Navajo Native by the name of Ben Benally, allowing me to find yet another common thread to my G.A.S. (Gratitude, Awareness and Service) theme.  It turns out that both Ben, a proud 74-year-old Vietnam Veteran and I served as U.S. Army Paratroopers supporting what is referred to as “Black Ops”, Top Secret military operations that remain highly classified and unknown to the general public for generation’s.  Of course, we shared a few war stories, comparing notes as veterans tend to do with each other, then spent our remaining time talking about fishing.  I look forward to revisiting Cortez in the future and having Ben share some of his secret fishing holes with me.  Josie and do our best to keep up physically with Eric and Lauren on their adventurous outdoor pursuits and have found great joy in just being their support crew if what they are doing requires more talent, strength and stamina then we currently possess.  So, finding the Hawkins Preserve was more in line with our present state of physical preparedness. “Hawkins Preserve, a 122-acre tract of land within the southern city limits of Cortez, was donated to the Colorado University Center of Cortez (now the Cortez Cultural Center) by Mr. Jack Hawkins in the 1990s. The Preserve is a valuable asset for the residents and visitors of Cortez because of the environmental setting, the diversity of plant and animal species represented across several biotic communities, the historic and prehistoric cultural resources, and the accessibility of these resources to the Preserve’s visitors.” My favorite part of our hike was along what is called the “Slickrock Trail”, a short 0.33-mile hike comprised of relatively flat rolling smooth rocks meandering through the preserve.  We then traversed a series of cliffs along the 0.55-mile Rim Route that overlooks this picturesque valley and ends at a place called “Patrick’s Point, a look-out with a couple of benches where you can sit and enjoy natures stillness.  Caching painted stones seems to have become a way to share places of natural beauty among the Artist communities we’ve visited lately.  Josie and I found some of these painted treasures in several places along the Northwestern Coast to include Whidbey Island and the town of Sequim, Washington.   This practice of hiding painted stones is obviously done here as well, for we found several in the Hawkins Preserve near the “Jump” sculpture.  After our hike, we treated ourselves to lunch at “The Farm Bistro”.  “When The Farm Bistro opened in early 2009, the farm to table concept was just gaining steam across the country. To owners Rusty and Laurie, farm to table just made sense. In the agricultural community of Montezuma county, they knew that locally grown food was fresher and tasted better than food from the big distributors. In 2013, 55% of the bistro’s food dollars were spent within 75 miles of Cortez!”.  After our delicious lunch we spoke with Rusty, Bistro Owner, Chef and Farmer and were impressed by his down to earth humble demeaner, his passion for sustainability and the mutual support he and his local community share. The bistro’s warm and welcoming setting, along with its outstanding service is a must-check-out destination to relax, eat and socialize.  Just across the street from The Farm Bistro we found “fb organics, your locally owned natural & organic market”.  I briefly spoke with the proprietor, Melanie and discovered she recently returned to her roots after traveling and living in different parts of the world.  Melanie and her husband Darrin moved from Texas back home to Cortez and offer healthy life style product choices.  I recommend their gluten free macaroons, very taste indeed.  I look forward to returning to Cortez in the future to further explore the area, learn more of its rich history and to hopefully catch a fish or two for dinner with the help of Ben.